Dispatch from Albania # 16 Dec. 12, 1999

From: Cdcphotog@aol.com
Subject: Dispatch #16 re Albania (frPositano)
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Dispatch #16 (after Albania; to a few ) December, 1999

Some personal conclusions after being away from Albania 2 weeks:
corrupt government
too much Mafia
hospitable people
resigned people who can adapt & survive at some level to whatever befalls them
country needs a big dose of capitalism and business and money
the world doesnít care about this pitiful country
selfishly: thank goodness I was born in America

*Over-all feeling 2 weeks after leaving Albania:
hopelessness & sorrow

*More personal:
Mucho grande appreciation to Kathy Torgersen
For inviting me to help out in Albania
For arranging all logistics which in Albania ainít no small thing!
For keeping me healthy & laughing & productive for 2 full weeks
For understanding I certainly didnít want to be perceived as a princess or a prima donna, but my 64-yr-old body has some strange limitations
For explaining history, sociology, & any other -ology several of us wanted to know
For imbuing energy to lotsa people, esp. the IRC group, drivers, translators, body guards, and all the people we met while photographing and interviewing
For never being an Ugly American
For sleeping 2 nights on a cot in a cold attic while insisting I sleep in a real bed in a warmer room
For teaching me how to unzip my parka without having to step out of it
Thank you, dear Kathy! I hope we accomplished IRCís goals.

Much appreciation to anonymous person who got me a round-trip ticket to Rome (When people asked, I said it was a gift from a very kind-hearted humanitarian. True.)
And thank goodness Mom felt good enough for me to go, said ìGo,î and has continued feeling pretty good
My only external body wound: burned wrist on a low-wattage-but-high-heat light bulb when trying to Jerry-rig a wall lamp into a reading light. Have battle scar to prove.
Personal extravagances spent on cleanliness and communications upon arrival in Italy: $70 on laundry (i.e., everything I wore in Albania inc. socks & underwear*) and $35 to get on-line and tell you all about it
Going to Albania as a bleeding-heart liberal Democrat makes this person worry that she might return a Republican

End of messages about Albania, I think. No, thereís one more.

Love,
Carolyn

*Have YOU ever sent your socks to the laundry? Or your underwear? Next step is to have my hiking boots totally cleansed & disinfected. Unfortunately, I canít do that at an Italian laundry or laundromat or in a hotel sink. If I can get through customs with slightly contaminated shoes, California, here we come. Yikes! But I hate to bring any alien things back home!




next